Manitoba Post-Secondary News Roundup

Assiniboine Community College is asking the Canadian government for increased funding after facing cuts to its English as a Second Language program last year. In 2017, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada proposed to cut ACC’s English language program from $730K per year to $190K at a time when demand for the program was reportedly increasing. “That’s been one of the areas where we’ve been concerned is that last year, as a result of the funding decrease, we had to eliminate the evening and weekend programming,” said ACC President Mark Frison. “And so we do have an additional proposal in to try to re-establish some of that.”

University College of the North (UCN) has unveiled the completion of a $2 million science lab renovation at their campus in The Pas, thanks in part to investments by the governments of Canada and Manitoba. “This once-in-a-generation investment by the Government of Canada is a historic down payment on the government’s vision to position Canada as a global centre for innovation. That means making Canada a world leader at turning ideas into solutions, science into technologies, skills into jobs and start-up companies into global successes. Not only is the investment at the University College of the North improving both the safety and functionality of the science labs, it will also make students innovation-ready to come up with bright ideas or land a new job,” said The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development.

THE PAS—Northern and rural Manitobans will soon benefit from more paramedics in their communities and new opportunities to train in emergency medical services, Education and Training Minister Ian Wishart announced today. Wishart unveiled a new Primary Care Paramedic Certificate program at University College of the North (UCN) here today.“We are committed to improving emergency services to ensure Manitobans are able to access the vital and often lifesaving services of paramedics when and where they are most needed,” said Wishart. “That starts with better access to training and this new program will establish a permanent base for paramedic education in the north.”

More than 200 Indigenous high school students from across the country visited Red River College to tour classrooms, meet instructors and explore the many career opportunities and supports available to them, as part of this year’s Soaring: Indigenous Youth Empowerment Gathering.

“Engaging more Indigenous students and providing more pathways to post-secondary education and training is a key priority,” says Rebecca Chartrand, RRC’s Executive Director, Indigenous Strategy, “The College is charting a new path forward focused on elevating Indigenous student success, and we are creating new and enhanced programs and supports in order to recruit and retain more Indigenous students, and ensure they have the tools and wraparound supports they need in succeed and thrive.”

Students at the University of Manitoba are lobbying universities to create official degree and diploma programs in Indigenous languages, one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.

The ReconciliAction campaign was started by Noah Wilson and the University of Manitoba Aboriginal Students Association, “It’s about bringing light to the TRC Calls to Action, and ensuring that the calls to action are being implemented,” said Wilson, who is the co-president of the Aboriginal Students Association.

Twelve students from the University of Manitoba Faculty of Engineering represented the University of Manitoba at the 2018 Canadian Engineering Competition, which was hosted by Ryerson University from March 8-11. This was the first year that the Programming competition was held at the Canadian Engineering Competition. Six teams from across Canada competed this year.

The Programming team placed first overall. Team members included final year ECE students Austin Shaski (computer engineering), Chelsea Taylor (computer engineering), Cole Bouchard (computer engineering), and Matthew Kehler (electrical engineering). The Re-Engineering team placed second overall. Team members included Dayakarn Sandhu (electrical engineering) and Nick Couture (mechanical engineering).

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